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THURSDAY, Nov. 29, 2012 — When it comes to finding the best person for the job, some employers are more interested in who they’d like to eat lunch with than who is most qualified for the job, according to a study published in the American Sociological Review.

Their assessment was the result of 120 interviews with hiring professionals in elite U.S. investment banks, law firms, and management consulting firms. The interviews, 40 per industry, were conducted from 2006 through 2008.

According to the study authors, evaluators at the firms often valued their personal feelings of comfort, validation, and excitement about the candidates over candidates' cognitive or technical skills. More than half of the evaluators in the study ranked cultural fit as the most important criteria at the job interview stage.

“Of course, employers are looking for people who have the baseline of skills to effectively do the job,” said study author Lauren Rivera, an assistant professor of management and organizations and sociology at Northwestern University in Chicago. “But, beyond that, employers really want people who they will bond with, who they will feel good around, who will be their friend and maybe even their romantic partner. As a result, employers don’t necessarily hire the most skilled candidates.”

The researchers also found that the cultural similarities valued at elite professional service firms have notable socioeconomic dimensions. For example, those in hiring positions are predominately white, Ivy League-educated, upper-middle or upper class, and tend to favor people who share a similar background, which could create inequalities in access to elite jobs based on status, Rivera said.

While the importance of cultural fit in hiring is probably generalizable across other types of occupations, Rivera said, the degree to which culture matters in the decision to hire varies depending on the technical and social demands of the job, and how structured the interviews are. If you were hiring a neurosurgeon, she said in a press release, there would most likely be more of an emphasis on performance than cultural fit, for example.

“It is important to note that this does not mean employers are hiring unqualified people,” said Rivera in the release. “But my findings demonstrate that — in many respects — employers hire in a manner more closely resembling the choice of friends or romantic partners than how one might expect employers to select new workers.”